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Educator Certification Information

IMPORTANT NOTICE - Effective 3/31/2020:As you know, we are now teleworking exclusively and no longer allowed to enter our office building until further notice. Therefore, our access to information is limited and we may not be able to provide you with the most up to date response or confirm receipt of documentation or transcripts you may have submitted to the certification unit. We appreciate your patience during this unprecedented Stay at Home Order. We hope you're all STAYING SAFE AND WELL!!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to the website of the MCPS Certification Unit that works directly with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to provide certification services for all MCPS professional employees. Once employed by MCPS as a contracted educator, specialist or administrator, MCPS handles ALL of your certification via its direct access to the MSDE's Educator Information System (EIS). Please contact a member of the Certification Unit with any and all questions about your Maryland Educator Certificate, local MCPS contingencies, salary advancement, course applicability, and equivalent credit applicability.

IMPORTANT NOTES: Information given by any other office or MCPS employee may not pertain to your specific needs or circumstances. If you are not a contracted MCPS educator OR if you are an MCPS supporting services employee or substitute teacher, you must contact MSDE directly for certification services at 1-410-767-0412 or toll-free at 1-866-772-8922 or at www.mdcert.org.

Certification News

IMPORTANT NOTICE -- If your
Maryland certificate will expire on June 30, 2020. On March 5th,
Governor Hogan issued an Executive Order regarding the renewal of all permits, licenses, and registrations,
which includes Maryland Educator Certificates. The order states that all
certificates set to expire during the state-of-emergency will be
extended 30 days after the date by which the state-of-emergency is
lifted.

This
means that if the state-of-emergency expires prior to June 30, 2020, there
will be no extension to your Maryland certificate renewal deadline, and all
requirements must be submitted by June 30, 2020. If the
state-of-emergency lasts until June 30, 2020 or after, you will have until the
30th day after the state-of-emergency expires to submit your renewal
requirements and remain in good standing.

We
strongly recommend completing all renewal requirements by June 30, 2020, since
we do not know when the state-of-emergency will end. Keep our unit informed of your progress toward meeting your renewal requirements.

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) DIGITAL Certificate! Maryland’s web-based Educator Information System (EIS) provides educators with access to their personal certification information. Access EIS and your Maryland teaching certificate. PLEASE NOTE that the MSDE Educator Information System (EIS) opened the educator portal on August 10, 2015. If you did not have a portal username and password prior to the conversion to the new EIS, you will not be able to access your records; therefore you will need to contact the Certification Unit to check the status of and to request a copy of your digital certificate. If you have a portal username, please continue to check on the status of your digital certificate.

Important Notice for all NEW MCPS Educators:Welcome to MCPS! Please be sure to finish all of your onboarding steps and new hire certification processes as directed. In particular, review the items under Getting Started on the New MCPS Educators certification information page. Now that you are an MCPS educator, we will oversee everything related to your certification needs and you should no longer be in contact with MSDE.Always read any notification or email that you receive from the Certification Unit and respond accordingly. Have a great year with MCPS!

Important Reminder to all professionally contracted MCPS educators holding a Maryland Professional Teaching Certificate: It is the responsibility of the certificate holder to know the current certification requirements and to complete the requirements to renew the certificate prior to the expiration date. See our MSDE General Certificate Informationpage for additional information and the requirements for your particular certificate.